New Sphere of Action in the Fight on Racial Bias

Anti-Bias measures now being pressed upon lawmakers by minority groups in many states and large cities give evidence that the struggle against racial discrimination has entered a new phase, Laws restricting or forbidding racial discrimination in the rental or sale of apartments or of houses in new real estate developments were enacted by the legislatures of five states in 1957. At the end of the year New York City took the longest step yet attempted by an American municipality to further racial equality in private housing.

The large cities of the North, where Negro populations are overflowing the boundaries of segregated neighborhoods, are the centers of agitation for equal treatment of the races in sale or rental of housing accommodations. Pressure for removal of barriers to occupancy of homes in white districts by Negro families has been building up since the Supreme Court rendered its decision in 1954 requiring eventual integration of public school systems.

Large parts of the South are trying to ward off school desegregation by resort to a wide variety of legal devices; in the North partial racial segregation hangs on in many schools as a result of persisting residential segregation, which is reflected in school enrollments.